Editing Monroe, Louisiana (section)

===Early history–late 20th century===
Monroe's origins date back to the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonial period]].

{{Blockquote
| text      =As the 19th century began, the entire [[Ouachita River|Ouachita Valley]] region ... was part of Spanish colonial holdings. [[Ouachita Parish, Louisiana|Ouachita Parish]] encompassed the area between the [[Red River of the South|Red]] and the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] Rivers, from north of [[Concordia Parish, Louisiana|Concordia]] and [[Rapides Parish, Louisiana|Rapides Parish]] to the [[Missouri River|Missouri]]. The area was sparsely populated, primarily by itinerant hunters and trappers until late in the 18th century. Under Spanish colonial rule, Jean Baptiste Filhiol was sent from South Louisiana to oversee the settlement of the Poste du Ouachita in 1781. In 1785 Filhiol designated ''Prairie des Canots'', now Monroe ... as the governmental center of the Poste du Ouachita. In response to a petition by the settlers, a fortification was built in 1791 and named Fort Miro in honor of the Spanish governor, [[Esteban Rodríguez Miró|Estavan Miro]].
| author    =Susan Sirmans
| title     =''Pharmacy and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Ouachita Parish, Louisiana''<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23645709 |jstor=23645709 |last1=Sirmans |first1=Susan |title=Pharmacy and Medicine in Nineteenth-Century Ouachita Parish, Louisiana |journal=Pharmacy in History |date=February 3, 2024 |volume=53 |issue=2/3 |pages=83–98|pmid=23045878 }}</ref>
}}

Fort Miro changed its name to Monroe to commemorate the first arrival of the [[steamboat]] ''James Monroe'' in the spring of 1820 (see "Etymology" above).<ref name="Sirmans 2011 83–98" />

In 1913, [[Joseph A. Biedenharn]], the first bottler of [[Coca-Cola]], moved to Monroe from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Biedenharn and his son Malcolm were among the founders of [[Delta Air Lines]], originally Delta Dusters. That company was founded in [[Tallulah, Louisiana]] in Madison Parish. It was based on products and processes developed by the Agriculture Experimental Station to dust crops from airplanes in order to combat the devastating effects that the [[boll weevil]] had on cotton crops. Biedenharn's home and gardens have been preserved and are now operated as the [[Biedenharn Museum and Gardens]] and are open to the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goby.com/biedenharn-museum-and-gardens--near--monroe-la/ex-104335|title=Biedenharn Museum and Gardens|publisher=goby.com|access-date=August 18, 2010}}</ref>

[[Collett E. Woolman]], the Ouachita Parish agent, was originally from [[Indiana]]. He pioneered [[aerial application|crop dusting]] to eradicate the [[boll weevil]], which destroyed [[cotton]] throughout the [[Mississippi Delta]] in the early 20th century. Woolman originated the first crop-dusting service in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deltamuseum.org/M_Education_DeltaHistory_Facts_Founder.htm|title=Delta Heritage Museum|publisher=deltamuseum.org|access-date=August 18, 2010}}</ref> The collapse of cotton production meant a widespread loss of farm jobs, which contributed to the early-20th-century [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], when a total of 1.5 million [[African-Americans]] left the rural [[Southern United States|South]] for jobs in [[Northern United States|northern]] and [[Midwestern United States|midwestern]] cities. They were also escaping the oppressive racial conditions and violence under [[Jim Crow]] and the [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchisement]] that excluded most blacks from the political system.

Howard D. Griffin (1911–1986) purchased a boat dealership in 1936 while a student at what became the [[University of Louisiana Monroe]]. By the 1960s, Griffin's company had become the world's largest outboard motor dealership, and he also sold [[motorcycle]]s. From 1955 to 1985, Griffin and his wife, Birdie M. Griffin (1915–1985), operated their seasonal Land O' Toys store in Monroe.<ref name="landotoys">{{cite news|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/2015/12/17/land-toys-lives-memory/77486562/|title=Howard Griffin Land O' Toys lives on in memory|date=December 23, 2016|newspaper=The Monroe News-Star|author=Bonnie Bolden|access-date=February 18, 2017}}</ref>